I actually made this blueberry crisp way back in January when I was desperate for anything summer-like. It was heaven. Maple syrup, cinnamon and blueberries is truly a magical combination and so, so comforting. I also tried a variation with lemon juice and lemon zest and while nice and zingy, it didn’t come close to this version!

This recipe is perfect for when you have a blueberry overage. Whenever summer fruit is on sale, I always get overly excited and buy way too much. The past few weeks, peaches have been 44 cents a pound. How am I supposed to resist that?! And they’re not the subpar peaches you’d expect at that price. They’re the best peaches I’ve ever had.

I used ivory whole wheat in this blueberry crisp but you can also use regular whole wheat flour. The cinnamon does a great job of covering up the whole wheat taste so it’s just a slight hint!

You probably know I’m all about giving people options so for this blueberry crisp, you can use butter – which I personally prefer in crisps, crumbles and streusel toppings in general due to the buttery taste – or coconut oil for a vegan and dairy-free alternative!

I used two 4.75″ mini pie dishes but you could also use a small baking dish or what I’m guessing would be four ramekins. If using pie dishes with sides that aren’t very high (like mine), then you’ll likely have to mound the berries quite a bit. I was worried that the blueberries would bubble over the sides but it wasn’t an issue at all. But still – place them on a baking sheet just to be safe.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F (175 °C) and grease two 4.5" or 5" mini pie dishes. If you don't have mini pie dishes, use something with an area close to 40" or use ramekins (I'm guessing you'd need 4).

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the topping ingredients. Set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl, stir together the the filling ingredients except the blueberries. When well combined, gently stir in the blueberries and coat in the liquid mixture.

Divide the blueberry mixture between the two baking dishes. Depending on the size of your dishes, the blueberries may be mounded well over the top of the dish edge. That's fine as the blueberries will cook down.

Distribute the topping evenly over the blueberries.

Place the dishes on a baking sheet to catch any spills and bake for 28-32 minutes or until the topping is firm and the blueberries are bubbling.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes

I used refined coconut oil, which has no coconut taste. If you use unrefined coconut oil, the topping may have a mild coconut taste.

You may have seen these gluten-free pancakes over on My Baking Addiction the other day. The first time I made these, I used regular dairy-containing buttermilk and butter, which is the version I’m sharing over on MBA. Then, me being me, I needed to test them a whole bunch and eventually ran out of buttermilk. So I figured I might as well make these pancakes dairy-free, which also turned them into paleo “buttermilk” pancakes!

You really can’t tell any difference between the store-bought buttermilk and homemade dairy-free buttermilk version. The stack you see here is actually a mix of the two.

The thickness is kind of different than what you’re probably used to. They’re not thick like regular American fluffy pancakes, but they’re not nearly as thin as crepes. They’re just hanging out in the middle – but they’re still pretty awesome! Especially for people like me who don’t like their pancakes to be too bread-y.

I used a mix of blanched almond flour and tapioca flour, which is also called tapioca starch. I’ve been doing a lot of grain-free and nut-free cooking recently and have been using tapioca quite a bit. I thought it’d be slightly strange but I’m enjoying it so far! I got mine from an Asian grocery store for about $1. You can of course use unblanched almond meal if you don’t mind the bits of almond skin in your pancakes.

These pancakes are perfect smothered in maple syrup or in this honey sweetened strawberry sauce. I make that sauce every year after coming home from strawberry picking (along with this 2-ingredient strawberry applesauce)! One of winter’s highlights, as sad as that may be, is coming across a long-forgotten bag of this sauce. Seriously. Winters here are ridiculously dreary and a little piece of summer is a cause for celebration!

You can make the sauce with frozen strawberries but I’ve never found store-bought frozen strawberries that even come close to freshly picked strawberries. However, if you use strawberries that taste like nothing, the sauce will probably come close to tasting like nothing. In case that wasn’t clear. ;)

As for the whipped cream topping you see in the pictures – a little goes a long way. Remember to use whipped coconut cream if you want to keep it paleo / dairy-free. Enjoy!

So. This tart is obviously only for coconut lovers! The crust is just a bunch of coconut products and salt. There’s shredded coconut, coconut flour, coconut oil, and coconut sugar (and coconut milk in the pudding filling!) If you want to add a little different flavor, you can add some lime zest. Note that if you use coconut sugar (instead of raw sugar, which I did) that your crust will be a little darker. My favorite part is that you just press it all in so you don’t have to worry about rolling out the crust – perhaps my least favorite baking task!

Speaking of shredded coconut, I wish there were some consistency with the names of dried coconut products. What one company calls shredded, another calls flakes, and what one company calls chips are flakes with another company. And don’t even get me started on coconut flakes and flaked coconut.

The coconut on the left is what I normally use. It’s German desiccated coconut. Sometimes the bags say “coconut flakes” in English, just to add to the confusion. Desiccated coconut is supposedly drier than shredded coconut, but compared to Bob’s Red Mill’s shredded coconut (pictured in the middle) it’s exactly the same except the shreds are a little smaller. Those two are totally interchangeable.

But that stuff on the right? Definitely not interchangeable in some recipes (like this one!) It’s store-brand shredded coconut from a grocery store in the US. The shreds are way bigger, seem moister, and it’s often referred to as flaked coconut. I’m telling you – it’s chaos in the dried coconut world.

Anyway. This tart! The filling is the vegan coconut pudding that I posted a few weeks ago. That pudding is so thick that it works perfectly as a tart filling. Plop some berries on top and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn easy to make tart. Some added toasted coconut chips would have been even prettier and I’m totally kicking myself for not thinking of that earlier.

The crust is pretty nifty. When it comes out of the oven, it appears crumbly and like it’d fall apart once you cut into it. Once refrigerated, though, it becomes a hard waterproof (or something like that) crust. So make sure to keep the crust and fully prepared tart refrigerated! Or you could just do what I did – leave it near a window, forget about it for half a day and then just eat the leftovers straight from the tart pan with a spoon. It wasn’t all that tragic. ;)

For garnish:

Directions

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and get out a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom.

Mix all the crust ingredients together and pat up the sides and over the bottom of the pan.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned. It'll go from totally white to browned and then burned in moments, so keep a close eye on it!

Let the crust cool completely, about 30-60 minutes, and then refrigerate until cold and firm.

For the filling:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat 1¾ cups (that's about one 400-ml can) of the coconut milk with the sugar and salt until it's hot and steamy and small bubbles start to form.

Meanwhile, mix the remaining ¾ cup of coconut milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl until well combined. It may appear lumpy at first but keep stirring and it'll combine.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture while stirring constantly. Once well combined, put it back on the stove, turn the heat to low, and cook until thickened, whisking constantly. This will take anywhere from 30-60 seconds. Do not let it continue cooking once it's thickened - this can cause the cornstarch to break down and will make the pudding runny.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and coconut oil.

Let cool until room temperature and then pour into the chilled crust. Chill for about 1 hour before topping with raspberries.

For the garnish:

Up to about 4 hours before serving, top the tart with raspberries.

The tart keeps well for up to about 2 days, but is best on the first day. The crust will remain firm as long as it's refrigerated. Cut what you need and then return the tart to the refrigerator to prevent the tart from soaking up the pudding and getting soggy.

My parents used to take my brother and I to TGI Friday’s pretty often and I ordered the same thing every time – chicken fingers, French fries and strawberry applesauce. Still to this day, if I find chicken fingers on a menu, that’s what I’m getting. Menus with strawberry applesauce are a little less commonplace and not knowing how easy homemade applesauce was to make, I tried different brands of store-bought varieties but they just didn’t measure up (or at least, they didn’t measure up to my memory of what the strawberry applesauce at Friday’s was like!)

I posted another recipe for strawberry applesauce a few years ago but I broke my slow cooker and so I had to find a new way to prepare the applesauce. This recipe is different enough that I figured it warranted another post!

When I posted my first strawberry applesauce recipe, I thought applesauce needed to cook for a long time so I used a slow cooker. That’s totally unnecessary! You seriously just need 30 minutes on the stove top.

It’s so absurdly simple to make. You don’t even need to peel the apples as they break down during cooking and if you use an apple slicer / corer, this is really quick to prepare. Apple slices and hulled strawberries – you just put them in a large pot, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Cool and puree!

I also left out the apple juice, which I had previously used as sweetener. We went strawberry picking recently and came back with some almost candy-like strawberries. This resulted in strawberry applesauce that was so sweet that I can’t even eat all that much at a time. However, if you’re using some less than stellar off-season strawberries, this applesauce likely won’t be all that delicious.

And make sure to use sweet apples and nothing tart! I honestly just use whatever cheap apples I have around. This isn’t an apple pie or a fruit dessert where you need to worry about the texture so just go with whatever you have – except Red Delicious! Your apples should have at least a little taste to them. ;)

Whenever I find myself with too many strawberries, I make up a big batch of this strawberry applesauce, fully intending to eat it all by myself within 5 days, but then I get nervous and freeze whatever I have left after 4 days. If it sits in there for too long, you’ll know by the smell. If it smells funky, you’ll need to throw it out, which is as sad as it sounds. I recommend measuring out a cup per day or whatever you think you’ll eat over the next 4 days, and immediately freeze the rest. Sometimes it keeps well for a full week, sometimes not, so I just err on the side of caution and stick to 4 days.

If you want to make a different sized batch, the proportions are approximately 1/3 strawberries and 2/3 apples by weight. So 1 pound strawberries and 3 pounds apples. Simmer until soft, puree and enjoy. :)

Ingredients

Directions

Core each apple (do not peel!) and cut into about 6 pieces. Add the apples and strawberries to a large pot. Add about ½" of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Check about halfway through to make sure there's a little liquid on the bottom of the pot (to ensure that they don't stick). The apples should be very soft now. If they aren't, simmer in 5-minute increments until they are.

Remove from the heat and let cool for about 20 minutes and then use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce. You can also use a blender or food processor but an immersion blender is quickest, easiest and the least messy.

Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freeze any remaining applesauce after that.

So here’s a super last minute treat for July 4th! I posted this gluten-free granola over on My Baking Addiction earlier in the week and meant to share it over here immediately, but somehow it’s three days later and I have no idea where my week went. If you find yourself with some more time on your hands, take a look at these healthier July 4th desserts!

I absolutely love these parfaits. What I don’t love is that you can’t assemble them beforehand. The granola gets soggy pretty quickly so you’ll want to eat these up right away! If you want to make these for a July 4th picnic or something like that, you’ll just have to make a little make-your-own-parfait station. It’s kind of fun, right? :)

This granola wasn’t originally going to be vegan. I wanted to make granola clusters and I read how you could add an egg white to “any” granola recipe and it’d magically become cluster-y. I was doubtful but tried it out, anyway. The egg white version came out kind of soft and mushy, which was kind of a relief. I hate having leftover egg yolks and I bet some of you do, too! So here’s a less fussy recipe.

When I realized that the granola was almost vegan, I tried it out with brown rice syrup in place of the honey. Worked perfectly!

The added sugar is entirely optional. I forgot to add it once and was going to throw the granola away, thinking that it tasted like nothing. Then a few people came over, tried it, and some preferred it to the version with sugar. I’ve also made it with 2 tablespoons of sugar instead of 4 and even that was pretty great. I envy the people who thought it was plenty sweet without it! My sweet tooth must be out of control.

The two tablespoons of vanilla isn’t a typo, by the way. Just go with it! And the almond extract adds something a little special, without turning the granola almond-flavored.

For the parfaits:

Directions

For the granola:

Heat the oven to 325 °F (163 °C). Line a jelly roll pan with a piece of parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract, almond extract and salt. Stir in the oats.

Transfer the granola to the prepared jelly roll sheet and spread into an even layer.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the granola near the edges of the pan starts to brown. Keep a close eye on it as all ovens are different. Stir the granola thoroughly and then bake for another 5-10 minutes or until uniformly lightly browned. The granola will still be soft but will crisp up as it cools.

Let the granola cool completely on the pan. Store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 weeks.

For the parfaits:

Layer ¼ cup Greek yogurt into the bottom of a dessert glass (my glasses have a capacity of 10-ounces). Top with 2 tablespoons granola, followed by ¼ cup berries. Do one more layer of yogurt, granola and berries. Serve immediately.

Notes

I used refined coconut oil, which doesn't have coconut taste. If you use unrefined coconut oil, this granola may have some coconut taste to it.

When you want to decorate treats in red, white and blue for the 4th of July without food coloring, it’s all up to the berries, making this more or less of a healthy berry dessert round-up! I have thrown in a few treats that don’t have berries in them, just because they’d still be perfect for a July 4th BBQ. Enjoy! :)

To find recipes that fit your dietary needs, hit CTRL + F and type in “paleo” or “GRF” or whatever it is you’re looking for! That should highlight all the applicable recipes in the post.

In my book, there’s a coconut banana tart with a coconut milk based pudding-like filling. There was already butter and an egg yolk in the crust so I figured it’d be completely pointless to attempt making the coconut pudding filling vegan or dairy-free. So now that I’ve found myself with a little more time, that’s what I’ve done here!

This recipe doesn’t resemble the one in the book at all, but it’s just as delicious and even easier! There’s no need for any egg yolks in this version and best of all – it has a larger yield meaning more pudding. :D

Mr. Texanerin thought that this coconut pudding was really rich due to the coconut milk and could only eat a small amount at a time. I, however, can eat the full batch by myself within less than a day. I know this sadly from experience. I didn’t find it overly rich at all but sometimes I find my sense of sweetness, richness, etc. out of whack.

It’s pretty thick and stays that way for at least 24 hours. Just don’t be like me and eat from the pot with a previously used spoon or else the pudding may get a little runny.

Instead of egg yolks to thicken the pudding, I used quite a bit of cornstarch. If cornstarch freaks you out, Bob’s Red Mill’s cornstarch is GMO-free. If you need this coconut pudding to be grain-free or paleo, use arrowroot starch instead. I haven’t tried it in this recipe but I’ve used it interchangeably with cornstarch quite a few times and have never had issues! When taste-testing the pudding while it was cooking, I was worried that it may be a bit grainy but after it had fully cooked and cooled a little, it was completely smooth.

So I kind of forgot that July 4th is coming up. Had I remembered, I would have garnished these with some strawberries and blueberries for something a little more patriotic-looking. Raspberries and roasted coconut chips was pretty awesome, though. :)

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat 1¾ cups (that's about one 400-ml can) of the coconut milk with the sugar and salt until it's hot and steamy and small bubbles start to form.

Meanwhile, mix the remaining ¾ cup of coconut milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl until well combined. It may appear lumpy at first but keep stirring and it'll combine.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture while stirring constantly. Once well combined, put it back on the stove, turn the heat down to low, and cook until thickened, whisking constantly. This will take anywhere from 30-60 seconds. Do not let it continue cooking once it's thickened - this can cause the cornstarch to break down and will make the pudding runny.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and coconut oil.

Let cool until room temperature and then refrigerate in an airtight container. Best enjoyed within 48 hours. Garnish immediately before serving.

I made these gluten-free mini cherry pies for my latest post on My Baking Addiction. They’re heavy on the streusel (which, believe me, is a good thing!) and have an almond-flavored cherry filling.

The filling isn’t your typically jammy and sometimes gloppy cherry pie filling. It’s more like baked fruit encased in an oatmeal cookie-like envelope. I did bake a few of these a little longer to get them to the jammy point, but the topping sank into the filling and the pies were pretty unfortunate looking.

Now that I think about it, I could have partially baked the filling and then added the topping later on but to be honest… I’ve made these pies 8 times now. The thought of making them again just makes me feel like taking a nap. Plus – they really are delicious as is!

One of the reasons why I made them so many times was that I wanted to offer butter as an alternative in the ingredients list. No matter the amount of butter I tried, they stuck to the liners. So definitely use coconut oil here! I think this is a great recipe for those of you who don’t have any dietary restrictions but want to bake something gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan for friends or family. The ingredients are super basic so there’s no need to go and spend $15 on specialty flour!

Another thing I had an issue with was waxy / glassine muffin liners. The first several times I made these, I used all kinds of regular paper and foil liners. They came out perfectly. Then I tried glassine liners and the crusts stuck to the bottom! I was paranoid that I had messed up the recipe and made them a few more times with different liners and I only had issues with the one set of glassine liners I had.

Because I only had the one set of glassine liners to test, I’m not sure if glassine liners in general are the problem or if it was just the one specific brand. So I’m advising against all glassine liners. Sorry for the boring liner talk, but I thought I should warn you! Making pies and having to dig out the contents with a spoon was kind of sad. Delicious, but sad. ;)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners. I recommend using foil or regular paper liners. These pies stuck to the bottom of my glassine baking cups.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Stir in the melted coconut oil until well combined.

Pat about 3 tablespoons (40 grams) of the crust mixture up the sides and on the bottom of each muffin liner.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or just until they start browning.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes while preparing the filling.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the filling ingredients. Spoon a little over 2 tablespoons of mixture over each pre-baked crust and top with the remaining oat mixture (about 1 tablespoon per pie).

Bake for another 14-16 minutes or until the topping has lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Use a knife to carefully remove the pies from the molds and then remove the paper wrappers. If you have difficulties getting them out of their wrappers because the pies are too soft, let them cool slightly and then place in the refrigerator for about 10-20 minutes. If you don't remove the wrappers now, the pies may or may not stick to them once cool (it depends on the wrappers you use).

Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

Store at room temperature for up to 1 day. Refrigerate for up to 4 days. These hold their shape well at room temperature but if transporting or they'll be sitting in the heat, chilling the pies first for a few hours is recommended.

Notes

If you use unrefined rather than refined coconut oil, these pies may have some coconut taste to them.

Popsicles have never really been my thing. The ones from my childhood were basically sugar, artificial flavoring and coloring. I remember even getting headaches when eating them – and I don’t get ice cream headaches!

I just looked up the ingredients of the most popular popsicle brand of of my youth.

I used a banana to sweeten them and add a little creaminess. But just to be clear – these aren’t creamy like ice cream. They’re icy. If you don’t want to use a banana, use some avocado and add some sweetener to taste. Without a banana or avocado, these are basically pureed frozen fruit with some coconut milk, which isn’t the best treat texturally.

Coconut milk also adds a little fat and creaminess to the popsicles but if you want to use regular milk, that’d work, too. They’ll just be a little icier!

If you’re not a ginger fan, you’ll want to reduce it by quite a bit or leave it out all together as it’s the predominant flavor. I used to have an upset stomach pretty often and I was throwing ginger into everything. I’m not sure whether frozen food is technically good for nausea, but my stomach certainly felt better after eating one of these the other day!

I used this BPA-free popsicle mold and got ten 3-ounce (.375 cup) popsicles. If you don’t have a popsicle mold, make half the recipe for a delicious, generously-sized smoothie!

Is it already warm in your neck of the woods? We’ve had about 2-3 warm days this year and it’s typically in the 50s or 60s. It’s June and I still have to wear a jacket. I’m guessing that’s not the case for most of you so I’ve prepared lots of no-bake treats for the upcoming few months, starting with these no-bake peanut butter cookies!

I don’t know why people call these no-bake creations cookies. They’re more like candy or granola bar-ish to me. There’s lots of of peanut butter and maple gooiness, though, so they definitely are suitable for dessert!

This is one of the recipes I wanted to go in the book but after about 15 or 20 attempts, I just gave up. It sounds ridiculous because it’s basically just sweetener, fat, and peanut butter mixed together. Simple, right? Nope. Those proportions have to be spot on or they come out weirdly.

So what’d I change? Instead of honey, I thought I’d go with maple syrup to make a vegan version. I originally went with honey because 1/2 cup of maple syrup is expensive and I was trying to be frugal. :)

I realize that these cookies may appear greasy but that’s just because I took the pictures while they were still warm, before they even had a chance to set. After about an hour or two, or just 30 minutes in the refrigerator, they firm up and are totally not greasy looking!

You can use refined or unrefined coconut oil in these cookies. If you use unrefined, it adds a slight coconut taste, which is actually pretty nice and doesn’t take anything away from the peanut butter flavor.

And, uh, about the listed yield. As always with no-bake treats, that’s just a guess. As hard as I try, there’s no getting around the uncontrolable-shoving-spoonfuls-into-my-mouth-as-I-go-thing. ;)

Directions

Add the peanut butter, maple syrup, and salt, if using, and stir until well combined.

Turn the heat up to medium, bring the mixture to a boil, and then adjust the heat as necessary to keep it at a low boil.

Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should become glossy. Don't boil it longer or it may separate.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and oats until well combined.

Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out balls of the mixture onto a piece of parchment paper.

Let the cookies cool until almost room temperature. Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and roll the tops of the cookies in the chocolate chips. You can also stir the chocolate chips into the almost cooled mixture if you don't mind them melting and partially combining with the peanut butter mixture.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They can also be refrigerated for up to about a week.

Notes

I've made these with refined and unrefined coconut oil and they taste almost the same, with the unrefined version having just a slight coconut taste.

As much as I love cheesecake, I rarely make them. If I made a cheesecake just for the heck of it, I’d eat it all. And I don’t need that! I used to make them for parties and get-togethers but when you don’t have a car, those things get heavy after about 10 minutes of walking.

Not only that, but full-sized cheesecakes are so fussy. I almost always mess them up but mini cheesecakes? They’re pretty difficult to ruin as long as you don’t forget to line the muffin pan with muffin liners, which I may or may not have done the first time.

These grain-free mini cheesecakes freeze wonderfully well! They taste just as good post-freezing so you could even make them ahead of time if you’ve got room in your freezer. By the way, I’m totally in awe of anyone with space in their freezer. I think there must be a defective gene in my family because ours are always packed. Always!

As far as grain-free crusts go, I think this one is pretty awesome. Pre-baking them prevents a soggy crust, which seems all too common in almond flour based crusts. After baking the cheesecakes, the crust isn’t exactly crisp, but it’s far from soggy!

If you don’t want to use almond flour, use any nut flour or nut meal you’d like. I’ve tried hazelnut meal and that was delicious. Then I tried making a chocolate hazelnut version by adding some cocoa powder to the cheesecake filling. That sounded like such a simple change but it came out horribly. Definitely don’t do that. ;)

Almond flour, sugar and butter on their own don’t taste all that exciting so I added some lemon zest to liven up the crust. If you don’t want to use lemon zest, add some lime zest, almond extract, or something.

Because I posted these gluten-free mini cheesecakes over on My Baking Addiction, I wanted them to be especially pretty so I just decorated them with some berries. It’s really easy to plop them on top and be done with it. If you’re not trying to impress anyone with your dainty cheesecakes, I suggest drowning these mini cheesecakes in this honey sweetened strawberry sauce. :)

Mini Cheesecakes (grain-free, gluten-free)

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Ready in: 2:40 h

Yield: 12

Ingredients

For the crust:

1¼ cups (125 grams) blanched almond flour

¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar or raw sugar

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

For the filling:

1 pound (450 grams) cream cheese

½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar or raw sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

For decoration:

berries and powdered sugar, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.

Prepare the crust. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients, then stir in the butter and mix until thoroughly combined.

Divide the mixture between the liners (18 grams or 3½ teaspoons of mixture per liner) and lightly press down with the bottom of a shot glass.

Bake for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes while preparing the filling.

Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Beat in the eggs on low, one at a time, and just until well incorporated. Do not over mix!

Fill each liner about ⅔ full with the batter and bake for 10 minutes or until the centers of the cheesecakes don't jiggle when the pan is tapped. Open the oven door (at least 1 foot wide) and let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature - about 1½ hours. For easiest removal, remove the paper liners now. They can also be removed after chilling, though a little more cheesecake may stick to the liners then.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Decorate with berries and dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

I shared this gluten-free kladdkaka over on Food Fanatic today and couldn’t wait to share it with you all! It’s another recipe from my book and the last one I’ll be posting.

Speaking of which, I have a big favor to ask of you. If you bought the book and have already made a few recipes, I would really, really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon. When I’m browsing cookbooks online, my decision is usually based on the reviews and right now my book could definitely use some more. Thank you so much. :)

I’ve shared quite a few Swedish recipes and this kladdkaka is one of my favorites. Just like kanelbullar, you can find it in just about every other cafe in Sweden. It’s really popular and for a good reason. It’s kind of like a cross between a brownie and a cake and should, unlike my overbaked kladdkaka pictured, be super gooey!

Kladdkaka is traditionally made with all-purpose flour and butter but by using buckwheat and coconut oil, it was super easy to make grain-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free. And I swear – it’s just as good and you can’t tell any difference! If you don’t have buckwheat, whole wheat flour works just as well for a non-gluten-free version. I’m pretty sure whole spelt would also work well. If anything, it’d just be even gooier!

This is one ridiculously easy cake to make and the only way you can really mess it up is if you overbake it. I wasn’t paying enough attention when I baked the one pictured and instead of setting the timer for 14 minutes, I set it for 20. People still inhaled it, but it should look a lot moister and gooier. I didn’t really even process that internally until I was editing the pictures and had a close look at the texture. Put a chocolate cake in front of me and all thinking goes out the door, it seems. ;)

If you’re wondering how this cake can be grain-free and whole grain, please read the buckwheat section on my Ingredients page. :)

]]>32http://www.texanerin.com/2015/05/healthier-kladdkaka-gluten-free-dairy-free.htmlNutella Banana Cream Pie (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TexanerinBaking/~3/fOJQRXRTSIc/nutella-banana-cream-pie-grain-free-gluten-free-dairy-free.html
http://www.texanerin.com/2015/05/nutella-banana-cream-pie-grain-free-gluten-free-dairy-free.html#commentsWed, 13 May 2015 23:58:15 +0000http://www.texanerin.com/?p=21215I’m so thankful that Nora from A Clean Bake is here today sharing this amazing Nutella banana cream pie! She was nice enough to step in for the day while I’m wrapping up my vacation. If you’re not familiar with Nora and you bake grain-free, you definitely need to check out A Clean Bake! I’ve made and loved her grain-free snickerdoodles and have her paleo lemon pound cake, paleo chocolate hazelnut thumbprint cookies and grain-free pecan tart on my to-do list! Now over to Nora. :)

Let me tell you a little bit about how this pie came to be. I had a vision, you see. [rhyming unintentional; just roll with it] A vision of being one of those elusive People Who Are Good At Pie, someone who can just throw together the perfect crust out of instinct and that crust was somehow crispy and rich and delicate and flaky all at the same time. And chocolate. I did mention that the crust was supposed to be chocolate, right?

So I followed my instinct and threw together this crust that, in my mind and on paper, was simply irresistible. It tasted like Oreo cookies, but was still grain free and, simply put, divine.

It tasted like chocolate packing peanuts.

So, after a few more (failed) tries, I resorted to Plan B – a lightly sweetened version of my favorite almond flour pie crust. And then things got easier. This pie was always supposed to be filled with banana pudding and topped with whipped cream because it doesn’t get any simpler than that, and also because summer is coming and who doesn’t love a no-bake (ok, except the crust) dessert in their back pocket*?

But there was still the question of the chocolate element. I really had my heart set on a chocolate-banana flavor combination and, as luck would have it, I had some Not-tella (homemade Nutella) just, you know, lying around. Not that I wasn’t thoroughly enjoying eating it straight from the spoon but in spite of, and because of, the degree to which I enjoyed that, it simply had to go. Into the pie, I mean. Because what’s better than chocolate + banana? Nutella Not-tella and banana. Everyone knows that.

This pie is an exercise is layering and self control:

make the crust and try to avoid sampling the edges

layer on perfectly ripe banana slices without eating every other one (remember to leave enough to cover the base of the pie)

pour Not-tella flavored homemade banana pudding into the shell and for goodness sakes, avoid sticking your finger in it “just to make sure it’s not poison” too many times

swirl homemade whipped cream over all of that and if you can avoid licking the spatula one hundred times, well, then you’re a better baker than I.

and finally, garnish with more of those sweet, soft banana slices and a (generous) drizzle of chocolate.

If there are any left, that is.

Serve immediately, because let’s face it, this thing would never last in a house full of… well, anyone.

*Not literally, because this is a really creamy, gooey pie and no amount of Shout will get those stains out.

Nutella Banana Cream Pie (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)

Prep Time: 45 min

Cook Time: 25 min

Ready in: 2:10 h

Yield: 8 pieces

Ingredients

For the crust

1½ cups blanched almond flour

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut flour

4 Tablespoons raw or coconut sugar

Pinch salt

1 egg white

2 Tablespoons cold almond milk or water

¼ cup cold butter or dairy-free (vegan) butter

For the Banana Pudding:

2 Tablespoons flavorless gelatin

1 cup vanilla almond milk

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

⅛ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon (or less if you don’t like a distinct cinnamon flavor)

For the homemade Nutella:

1 cup raw unsalted hazelnuts

Heaping ¼ cup raw unsalted cashews

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

¼ cup coconut sugar or granulated sweetener of choice

Pinch salt

For the Whipped Cream:

½ cup granulated sweetener of choice

1 teaspoon tapioca flour

1 can coconut cream (not coconut milk!), chilled in the fridge for at least 12 hours

The rest:

Directions

Make the crust:

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar and salt a few times to break up all of the clumps.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and almond milk or water.

Add the butter and pulse 5-7 times until it is broken into clumps slightly smaller than a pea.

With the processor running, add the egg/water mixture in a thin stream until the dough forms a ball of dough.

Turn off the machine and let it sit for 15 seconds before proceeding (this allows the flour to absorb the moisture from the buttermilk).

Turn the dough out on to a piece of wax or parchment paper, gather into a ball and press into a thick disc. Cover with another piece of wax or parchment paper and roll into a flat disc about 10"-11" in diameter. Loosen the parchment from both sides of the dough and then carefully slide the dough into a lightly greased 9" pie or tart pan. Alternately, you can simply turn the dough directly into a greasted pie pan and use the heel of your hand to gently spread the dough.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (and up to overnight) before baking.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crust is just cooked through and golden around the edges.

Make the banana pudding:

In a small bowl, stir the gelatin into the almond milk until mostly dissolved. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the "s" blade, puree the banana until smooth. Add the gelatin and almond milk mixture, plus the salt, vanilla and cinnamon to the bowl. Puree until smooth and completely combined.

Transfer to a covered container and let sit at least an hour until thickened.

Make the homemade Nutella :

Add the hazelnuts and cashews to the bowl of a small food processor and pulse 10-12 times until they form a coarse flour, then process continuously, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically, until it forms a thick paste. This will take a while. The nuts hold on tightly to their flour texture, then start to form a giant ball. Just keep going; eventually the oils will release and the nuts will become a loose paste.

Add the cocoa, sugar and salt to the processor and process to combine.

Make the Whipped Cream:

Make your powdered sugar: add the sweetener and tapioca to a food processor or high speed blender and pulse 10-20 times until powdered fine. Run it through a fine mesh sifter to remove clumps. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the coconut cream, vanilla and liquid as needed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and salt and beat until light and fluffy. This could take anywhere from 2-5 minutes and you may need to stop a couple times to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is completely incorporated.

Assemble the pie:

In a large mixing bowl, whip together the banana pudding and the chocolate hazelnut spread. If you are having trouble getting them to mix smoothly, try warming the chocolate hazelnut spread in the microwave for 30-60 seconds until liquefied.

Cover the bottom of the prepared and cooled crust with a layer of sliced bananas.

Spread the chocolate hazelnut banana pudding mixture in an even layer over the bananas.

Spread the whipped cream in an even layer over the pudding layer.

Line the perimeter of the pie with more banana slices.

Drizzle the top of the pie with more warmed chocolate hazelnut spread or melted chocolate chips.

Serve immediately.

Notes

All of the elements can be made ahead of time and you can assemble the pie immediately before serving.

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week, and bring back to room temperature before serving.

]]>22http://www.texanerin.com/2015/05/nutella-banana-cream-pie-grain-free-gluten-free-dairy-free.htmlHealthy Chicken Fajitashttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TexanerinBaking/~3/9C9mKFI9JnY/chicken-fajitas.html
http://www.texanerin.com/2015/05/chicken-fajitas.html#commentsSun, 03 May 2015 13:58:00 +0000http://69.195.124.75/~texaneri/2012/05/chicken-fajitas.htmlI totally admit to buying store-bought pre-seasoned fajitas before moving to Germany about 5 1/2 years ago. Fajitas aren’t a thing over here, meaning taking the easy way out with pre-marinated fajitas was out, so I begrudgingly switched over to homemade fajitas. I’m ridiculously happy I did because these are SO much better. We fight over these leftovers and I hate leftovers (unless it’s mac and cheese!) We’ve even had several “Fajita Fridays!” to help educate people about the wonders of fajitas and good tortillas. I like to think of myself as a food ambassador. :)

Tortillas have become easier to find in stores but when I first arrived, they weren’t so common, were expensive and unappetizing enough to get me to make my own. I went through about a dozen terrible recipes before I tried these homemade flour tortillas from Homesick Texan.

I’ve had several Hispanic roommates which resulted in me eating their mothers’ homemade tortillas on a regular basis. They were made with quite a bit of lard. These are made with 2 teaspoons of oil (I use coconut oil) and are honestly just as good!

You can make them with all whole wheat or whole spelt, but they’ll of course taste clearly of whole grains. Or you can use white whole wheat or a mix of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. It’s a pretty hard recipe to mess up! You may need to add a little more flour or liquid depending on what type of flour you use but it’s such a small amount it doesn’t throw the other ingredients off.

I’d love to at least link to a grain-free tortilla recipe but every one I’ve tried has been inedible. Until then, all I can recommend is a lettuce leaf, which is 99.9% less delicious than a tortilla.

The fajita marinade is simple and the only way you can really mess it up is if you add too much chicken. I’ve done that a few times and the chicken doesn’t come out as flavorful that way.

Mr. Texanerin is a veggie lover so while I load my tortillas with just chicken and cheese, he gets more fancy + healthy and adds a ton of onions and peppers. To make the onions extra spicy, we add a sliced onion to the bag of chicken marinade. Cook the chicken, reserving the marinade, and then cook the peppers and onion in the reserved marinade. If you just dump the onions in with the chicken, then the chicken will more or less boil, rather than fry. Not so good.

Mr. T and I are off to Warsaw tomorrow. It’ll be our first trip together since last May and I’m beyond ready! Any Polish food recommendations?

Directions

Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise to make two thinner chicken breast cutlets.

Combine all the ingredients except the peppers in a Ziploc bag and marinade the chicken overnight. If you're really in a rush, marinade for at least three hours.

You can either grill or pan fry. Pan fry at medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through. It'll depend how thick your meat is, but normally I do it 3 - 5 minutes per side. Instead of just dumping all the contents in the pan, take out the pieces of chicken, leaving the marinade and onions in the bag.

After the chicken is cooked, remove to a plate and cover. Add the sliced onions, marinade and peppers to the pan and stir.

Turn heat to high and cook for about 5 minutes or until they're cooked enough for your liking.

Notes

This gives the chicken its smokey taste! I don't recommend omitting it. If you don't have it, try adding some smoked paprika.

When Jamie of My Baking Addiction asked if I could post some chocolate chip cookies, I kind of panicked. At that point, I had never had a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie with the texture of a traditional cookie. I’ve made oodles of delicious gluten-free cookies, but they’re usually kind of small, delicate and squatty-looking. Definitely not the bakery style cookie that first comes to mind when you think of chocolate chip cookies.

I knew I’d probably not be able to use my usual nut flours and would have to use some gluten-free flours that I’m not all that experienced with. I wanted to try something with brown rice flour, which would at least make the cookies whole grain, but that doesn’t seem to exist in Germany. So that was out, as well as any recipe calling for a gluten-free baking blend. I don’t feel comfortable using those, anyway, because they’re not all the same and I knew the results would vary depending on what brand you use. That leaves way too much to chance! So after, like, 4 hours of searching, I found a recipe on Land O’Lakes that I could try with the flours I already had. Hooray!

In that recipe, they have you create your own baking blend with tapioca flour, potato starch and white rice flour. I didn’t want any of the flour blend leftover so I used my mad math skills (or whatever – math was actually my worst subject) to calculate what portion of their mix to make just for this batch of cookies.

I was expecting these cookies to be gritty and chalky, kind of like the dough, but when you follow the directions (unlike me the first few times I made these!) they come out like a regular gluten-containing cookie. It’s awesome. I didn’t even know that was possible with these kinds of flours! Just don’t try to make mega-large cookies like I did a couple times. They’ll come out cakey and gritty. I really wanted these to be monstrous like the New York Times chocolate chip cookies but when they taste that good, I’ll settle for the smaller version!

That said, I think using these flours is akin to using all-purpose flour, meaning there’s no nutrition in these cookies whatsoever. Sorry about that. I brought these flours all the way back with me from the US and they’re expiring soon so there – I was practically forced to make these. ;)

I haven’t tried these with coconut oil for a dairy-free version but I’m assuming it’d work. I wouldn’t even bother reducing the amount of coconut oil, like I often do when subbing coconut oil for butter. I don’t think a little extra fat (coconut oil is 100% fat and butter is 80-84% fat) will hurt these cookies at all.

In a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the beater blade, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and creamy. One at a time, add the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the vanilla and then gradually add in the flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Stir in 1½ cups chocolate chips.

Form balls of dough, about 50 grams or a little less than 3 tablespoons in size, and roll the tops and sides of the balls in the remaining ½ cup chocolate chips. Place the balls 2½" apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned and the surface no longer appears wet.

Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yesterday I set out to make a cinnamon raisin version of this raw peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough. I wasn’t feeling overly ambitious (meaning I didn’t feel like actually baking anything) and it sounded easy enough. Just use almond butter instead of peanut butter and add cinnamon and raisins! But no. That was gross.

Then I decided that double chocolate peanut butter cookie dough sounded even better than the cinnamon raisin idea, but after adding additional peanut butter and doubling the maple syrup and still not being in love with the recipe, it became clear that that wasn’t in the cards, either. So I finally decided just to go with protein balls. These are delicious but they don’t taste like cookie dough. They do actually taste like grain-free cookie dough but that’s not what I was going for! If I’m going to make raw cookie dough, I want it to taste like it was made with all-purpose flour.

What we have here instead are some chocolate peanut butter protein balls! They don’t really taste like dessert, but they’re great for a quick, healthy, late-night chocolate craving. To be honest, I prefer the peanut butter cookie dough because it’s straight up peanut butter goodness. Once you add cocoa powder (with chocolate chips being an exception!) to something peanut butter flavored, it’s just not quite as good.

I haven’t tried it but I imagine almond butter would work in these if you want a paleo-friendly version. But after my cookie dough experiments, I don’t say that with 100% confidence.

Nut butters are weird. I always thought that they were mostly interchangeable but lately I’ve been playing around with them and the end product doesn’t always come out the same texture-wise! Sometimes they’re really different.

See those white specks in the balls? If you use a finely ground almond flour, you shouldn’t have those. I ran out of my favorite brand, which is uniformly finely ground, and had to buy something else. Only now when looking at these pictures did I realize how badly this other almond flour was ground! Do almond flour brands vary that greatly in the US? It almost looks as if I dumped some coconut flakes in there! Anyway. Enjoy the protein balls. :)

Directions

Mix everything together and roll into balls by squeezing together tablespoon-sized balls of dough. The dough should be a little crumbly, but not so crumbly that you can't form balls easily. If it's too dry to squeeze into balls, add a little extra water.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week. These also freeze well.

]]>26http://www.texanerin.com/2015/04/chocolate-peanut-butter-protein-balls.htmlThe Best Gluten-free Brownieshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TexanerinBaking/~3/-xgc19zbIX8/the-best-gluten-free-brownies.html
http://www.texanerin.com/2015/04/the-best-gluten-free-brownies.html#commentsThu, 16 Apr 2015 17:53:11 +0000http://www.texanerin.com/?p=21085Fudgy, gooey, and incredibly easy to make, these really are the best gluten-free brownies! They can also be made with whole wheat for a non-GF version.

There are some bloggers who pretty much label every recipe of theirs as the best (The Best Cheesecake! The Best Chocolate Cake! The Best Everything!) which gets a mega eye roll from me, but here I am doing it. I apologize for being a hypocrite but… yeah. I’m not changing my title. :D

Like the strawberry rhubarb crumble that I shared earlier in the week, this is also adapted from my book, which is coming out in only a few days (and which is already available on Amazon!) The brownies in the book are with hazelnut and espresso and this is the stripped down version. Simple, quick, no-fuss, super fudgy gluten-free brownies. They’re also 100% whole grain!

I used gluten-free and whole grain teff flour in these brownies. Teff comes in different varieties like white / ivory or dark and it’s said that the dark kind is earthier tasting (read: it tastes like dirt, like buckwheat). I’ve used both white and dark teff in these brownies and you really can’t detect any difference – all that Dutch-process cocoa powder does a great job of covering up any earthy / healthy flavors! I think teff isn’t the easiest flour to find but the dark kind is available on Amazon from Bob’s Red Mill.

I’ve also made these brownies with buckwheat for a grain-free version! You can use buckwheat in this recipe or check out my mint chocolate brownies for a minty, yet totally out of season version. And because I know some people don’t need these to be gluten-free, I’ve also tried them with whole wheat and I’m assuming white whole wheat would work just as well.

The cool thing is that all of the different versions taste the same. They’re all just as gooey and there’s no grittiness! If you try the brownies while warm, the buckwheat and teff versions do have something a little texturally weird going on but once they cool, it’s a thing of the past! It’s a really flexible recipe. Just don’t go halving the sugar and then complain that they came out cakey. ;)

Giveaway is now closed! Thanks to everyone who entered. :) Today I’m giving away five copies of The Sweet Side of Ancient Grains! One for five different winners (US and Germany, only – sorry!) Use the Rafflecopter below to enter. The only mandatory entry is to take a look at the table of contents on Amazon (you can now look inside the book and see the table of contents!) and tell me which recipe you’d like to make first.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line an 8"×8" (20cmx20cm) pan with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the melted butter or coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the eggs one at a time, and stir just until combined.

Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir just until almost no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix! Fold in ¾ cup (128 grams) chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup (43 grams) chocolate chips on top, if desired.

If using teff flour, bake for 20-22 minutes or until the brownies have formed a thin crust and appear set in the middle. If using buckwheat or whole wheat, you may only need 18-20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out wet. A toothpick inserted into the sides will come out with some moist crumbs on it, but not totally raw batter. The brownies will continue to bake as they sit in the pan and will firm up as they cool.

Let cool completely and then cover and store at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also refrigerate them to give them a fudgier texture.

It’s finally time – my book is coming out next Monday! If you missed my last post about it, go take a gander. It’s all about 100% whole grain desserts. About half of the recipes use ancient grains, like teff, spelt, buckwheat, etc., but even those recipes can be made with regular whole wheat flour. Because I know most people can’t just go pick up a bag of quinoa flour at their local grocery store, I tested all the recipes calling for ancient grains with regular whole wheat and list it as an option. A lot of white whole wheat flour is also used. If you have a bag of white whole wheat flour and some oats to grind into oat flour, you’ll be able to make all but a handful of the recipes!

The book’s focus isn’t on gluten-free recipes, but there are 15 grain-containing gluten-free recipes (I say grain-containing because I have an extras section with recipes for homemade jam, ice cream, etc., that are mostly naturally gluten-free). The gluten-free recipes are heavy on the chocolate so if you need chocolate-free and gluten-free, this book probably isn’t for you. There are 28 grain-containing dairy-free recipes and 6 grain-containing vegan recipes (sorry, vegans!) I would have absolutely loved to include more dietary-friendly options but time wasn’t on my side.

A few people have asked what it was like to write a cookbook. I wish I could paint a magical, cheerful picture but in reality, I tested recipes about 14-15 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 4 months. Then over the next two months, I only baked about half that time and spent the rest of the day writing everything up and dealing with the recipe testing. My husband did everything else. I didn’t go grocery shopping, clean, or cook. The poor guy was spending 2+ hours a day just doing my dishes, not to mention all the other housework. So thanks, Mr. Texanerin, for all the help. :)

Seriously. All I did was sleep, shower, and bake. I also spent about 1 hour a week on blogging stuff (which I’m sure a few of you noticed with the lack of posts!) Because of all the flour, fat and sweetener variations, I typically tested each recipe about a dozen times. Some recipes really gave me issues and those I made over 30 times. It was, to be totally honest, a nightmare. It was the most stressful time of my life and I’m so incredibly thankful that it’s over.

Everything was fine and dandy until I saw the finalized manuscript that was sent to the printer. I was totally devastated. All of the final corrections I had submitted to the publisher hadn’t been corrected. To the average reader who just wants to make the recipes, it won’t matter because the recipes are spot on and there aren’t any mistakes in the recipes that will throw you off. But it’s still such a huge disappointment. There are two places where the instructions say to add the coconut and it should have said coconut extract or coconut oil, but there aren’t any mistakes that will hinder your success. The mistakes are in the prose and you can see all of them and the corrections here.

I hope this doesn’t turn you off because I really think the recipes are solid! Since I live in Germany, I figured I should have everything tested by people living in the US. I used American white whole wheat flour, baking powder, and some other ingredients but I unfortunately don’t have access to American cream cheese, butter and other refrigerated products. I also had testers in the UK, Puerto Rico, Greece, Austria and Germany and was relieved to find that nobody really had any ingredients issues. Thanks so much to all my testers. :) Their input really made the instructions, and therefore the book, so much better! I’m hoping that someone who has never baked before will be able to understand everything and won’t have any issues.

This gluten-free and vegan strawberry rhubarb crumble is adapted from the Oat Flour Plum Crumble in the book. The filling is just lightly sweetened but the topping (of which there’s a huge amount!) is nice and sweet. I love the balance! I wrote more about the actual recipe over on my My Baking Addiction post so if you’re interested in reading about it, be sure to check it out here: gluten-free strawberry rhubarb crumble.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 1-quart, 8"x8" or another similar sized baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, almond extract, vanilla extract, cornstarch and salt. Add the chopped fruit and stir to coat in the mixture. Let sit for at least 10 minutes while preparing the topping.

In another large mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, brown sugar, melted butter or coconut oil and salt until well combined.

Spoon the fruit mixture into the pan and top with the topping. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the topping is firm and the fruit is bubbling. The topping will appear to be quite runny around 25-30 minutes but firms up in the last 10-15 minutes of baking. The filling may also appear runny while warm but thickens as it cools.

Let cool for 30 minutes and serve warm or room temperature. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Notes

To make oat flour, grind rolled or quick oats in a coffee grinder or small food processor until it resembles flour.

]]>32http://www.texanerin.com/2015/04/strawberry-rhubarb-crumble-gluten-free-vegan-whole-grain-dairy-free.htmlToasted Coconut Butterhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TexanerinBaking/~3/KXX3d5dQ7cI/toasted-coconut-butter.html
http://www.texanerin.com/2015/04/toasted-coconut-butter.html#commentsTue, 07 Apr 2015 12:58:18 +0000http://www.texanerin.com/?p=20998This toasted coconut butter only takes minutes to make and all you need is a food processor and coconut flakes! Naturally gluten-free and vegan.

I’ve posted homemade coconut butter before but this toasted coconut butter deserves its own post. Up until recently, I rarely made coconut butter because it took so long. It’s really easy but I hate running my food processor for 15 minutes in one go. You can also use a high-powered blender like a Blendtec, which I hear speeds things up (though I don’t have one and have never tried myself).

After making Samoatreats recently, it became obvious that toasted coconut is WAY better than non-toasted coconut. So when I ran out of coconut butter the other day, I toasted the coconut for about 10 minutes before dumping it all in the food processor. And then I got very frustrated that I hadn’t thought of this sooner! Instead of 15 minutes of processing in the food processor, it took about 3. It’s just like how using warm, roasted nuts considerably cuts down on the processing time. And it tastes so much better!

I’ve been doing an elimination diet and have only eaten meat, fruit, vegetables and coconut stuff for the past month. This toasted coconut butter is my new peanut butter. It’s not interchangeable with peanut butter in cooking or baking, not even close, but snack-wise? It’s awesome. The only thing I’m not wild about is how hard it becomes at room temperature. Every coconut butter I’ve ever tried, including store-bought, is quite firm at room temperature. The first two pictures are what it looks like a few hours after processing. The last picture is of my fork and I on an extraction expedition once the coconut butter has hardened.

I take a small fork or spoon and dig out what I need but you can also pop the jar in the microwave at half power for 10-20 seconds and it’ll melt nicely.

I know some people toast their coconut in a pan on the stovetop but with the amount of coconut you need here, that’s not going to work. You would need to do multiple batches. I filled two large rimmed baking sheets with coconut flakes (you can also use shredded coconut) and even then, my layers were quite thick. Since there’s only one ingredient, you can make as little or as much as you want but be sure you have enough coconut to fill your food processor at least half-way! If you don’t, it makes processing more difficult and time consuming.

So now that I know just how quick and easy toasted coconut butter is to make, I’m going to be incorporating it into a lot of my recipes. It does wonders for certain goodies! But just to be clear – this isn’t interchangeable with coconut oil, regular butter, nut butters, or anything else. If you do want to bake with it, look for recipes that specifically call for coconut butter, like these!

Toasted Coconut Butter (naturally gluten-free, vegan)

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Ready in: 25 min

Yield: 2¼ cups (600 grams)

Ingredients

21 ounces (600 grams or about 7½ cups) unsweetened coconut flakes or shredded coconut (or more or less, depending on the size of your food processor)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and divide the coconut between two large baking sheets. It'll be less messy when stirring if you use a rimmed baking sheet. Spread the coconut into an even layer.

Toast the coconut for 10-15 minutes, stirring after every 3 minutes, and rotating the pans after about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Keep a close eye on it as it can go from untoasted to burned in seconds. Depending on the size of your baking sheets, the top part of the coconut may appear untoasted, but once you stir it, you'll see that the coconut around the edges and the coconut on the bottom of the pan have toasted quite a bit. Stir frequently to prevent burning! Remove the sheets from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the toasted coconut flakes to a food processor fitted with an S-blade. The coconut should fill the bowl at least halfway. If it's less than halfway full, it'll be more difficult to process and it'll take longer.

Process until very runny - even runnier than homemade natural peanut butter. Within 2-3 minutes, it was almost as thin as water. Depending on your food processor, it may take longer.

Pour into a jar and stir every 30 minutes or so. If you don't stir, the coconut butter may separate a little.

It'll gradually harden and after about 12 hours (more or less, depending on the size of your container and your kitchen's temperature), it'll completely firm up.

I’m a terribly forgetful and disorganized person. After 3 1/2 years of blogging, I thought it was time to go through my post drafts folder and clean things up. I found this recipe from March 2011, which was before I even started posting anything. I wanted it to be one of my first posts but here we are in 2015. Whoops.

The original recipe is great as is but somehow I just found myself changing things here and there. I also made it easier by omitting a step where you boil 1/2 cup water and the sugar. I assume it has a purpose but I couldn’t taste any difference between doing that and just adding the sugar to the batter and adding 1/2 cup milk. I’m all for easier so that’s what I went with.

Something important to note is that other nuts don’t seem to work in these cookies. I’ve tried using the same amount of peanut butter and almond butter and they came out pretty terribly. Stick with walnuts! I don’t even like walnuts (the taste or texture!) but I love these cookies – although I admit to leaving out the chopped walnuts in some of the cookies and just adding more chocolate. :D

I actually only tried this recipe because I was looking for a way to eat walnuts that I’d find edible. So, yeah. I made cookies in order to be healthy. It’s weird how my mind works sometimes.

The recipe calls for processing walnuts in a food processor until you have nut butter. Out of all the nut butters I’ve made, I think walnut butter is the quickest. It takes about 2 minutes in my food processor. I guess you could also use store-bought walnut butter but this way is so much cheaper!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an S-blade, grind the walnuts until they have the consistency of natural peanut butter. Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, baking powder, and salt. When the walnut butter is ready, transfer it to a large mixing bowl.

To the large bowl, add the coconut oil, sugar, milk and vanilla and beat with a large spoon or with an electric hand or stand mixer until well combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredient mixture and stir just until combined.

Fold in the oats, walnuts and chocolate chips. Form into 1" balls and place 3" apart on the prepared baking sheet. Do not press the balls down.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the centers of the cookies no longer appear wet (they should not brown – if they do, they're overbaked and will be cakey instead of chewy). They should have formed a light crust.

Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Notes

If you don't have oat flour on hand, use a coffee grinder or small food processor to grind rolled or quick oats until powdery.

I used refined coconut oil, which doesn't have any coconut flavor. If you use unrefined coconut oil, these will likely have some coconut taste to them.